


Civil Procedures of Birthday Etiquette

by doreamu_san



Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Family, Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 09:43:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21492265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doreamu_san/pseuds/doreamu_san
Summary: When Ky's eyes first flickered open that morning, the first two things he noted was that there was the faint, distant scent of something burning and that a birthday banner had been placed, not so it was on the wall as part of the decoration, but rather so that it was plastered against the door frame as if to block him from exiting.Within a few minutes of processing this, Ky bolted up out of bed.
Relationships: Sol Badguy/Ky Kiske
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	Civil Procedures of Birthday Etiquette

Typically during mornings on one's birthday, it was not unusual to expect yourself to be waking up in peace, blissfully content that today was the day you could take things at your own pace and treat yourself to a bit of self-care. Ky wasn't the type of person to throw wild parties for these sorts of things, but he had been planning to have a relatively relaxing day. It was the little things he was looking forward to; waking up an hour later, taking a few more breaks between work and eating his meals at the right time for once seemed like the perfect way to spend the day, even if it was pretty unconventional to others.

All of that was immediately thrown out of the window when the unmistakable scent of something burning reached his nose. His first instinct was to place the blame on Sol (despite the fact he had already warned Sol about being careful not to burn anything within the castle grounds numerous times already), but then his eyes managed to focus on the birthday banner hanging lopsided on the doorframe. The birthday banner itself was not suspicious, but rather the fact that it had been tacked rather clumsily on in a way that made it look like the perpetrator had done it in a rush.

The clear beginnings of a crime scene, an amusing one that certainly needed investigating.

Getting up to inspect the decoration a little more closely, a quick look showed that the material was extremely glossy. Ky gave it an experimental tug, the banner stretching back to its original form within moments. Brand new, he concluded, but for some reason casually used as a police tape. If he was still working in the police force, he would have confiscated it as evidence to be tested, but given the circumstances Ky had the increasing suspicion he wasn't dealing with criminals in the slightest.

The rest of the bedchamber went relatively unscathed, albeit some of the drawers hadn't been shut properly and there was now a giant alarming red circle scrawled onto his calendar surrounding the date November 20th with several exclamation marks alongside it. Judging by the punctuation, there was only one person in the household that could carry that much enthusiasm.

Cautiously, Ky made his way back over to the banner and detached the decoration from one end so he could pass through the door. The smell from earlier seemed to be getting stronger, and so he followed it down the hallway onto the ground floor where he found himself standing outside the kitchen, various clattering noises and footsteps able to be heard from the area.

Ky decided to pre-emptively brace himself for the worst and knocked against the door, only for it to open midway through his second knock to reveal a very dishevelled looking Sin.

"Hey dad! Happy birthd-! Wait you're err.. up already?"

"Thank you," Ky smiled, trying hard to not stare at the odd bits of white powder embellishing Sin's clothes. "And to answer your question, I only woke up due to that odd burning smell; it's spread throughout the entire castle. Whatever you two are doing, please tell me it's not going to cost hundreds of dollars in damage."

Sin's hand went straight to the back of his neck. "Smell..? Damage? Pfft, you worry too much. We've got everything under control."

"So you two are working on something then?"

"N-no, not at all!" Sin hurriedly said. "Trust me, we've got something way better for you."

There was a loud crash from behind Sin, and suddenly a hushed growl of '_shit-!'_ that suspiciously sounded like Sol. Ky attempted to discreetly peer over Sin's shoulder, but Sin immediately moved to block him from the sight. Whatever they were doing, it was going far beyond what people normally did for others when it was their birthday.

"Hey, now that you’ve discovered the source of the smell, let's go back to bed!" Sin put his hands on Ky's shoulders and made him take a few steps back in an effort to guide him back to the main hallway.

"But I still don't know exactly what the smell is, or why you're being so secretive about it, or what your father is even doing in there-"

"Oh you know the old man, working alone on something as usual. Best not to bother him or he'll get grumpy."

"He's perpetually grumpy," Ky clarified, before he eased himself out of Sin's grasp. "Well, in that case, I'd like to ask him what he's up to then. _Sol?"_

The noises suddenly came to a halt, and there was a long pause from the other side of the door. "..What?"

"Are you alright in there?"

"Yeah."

"Then... can I come in..?"

"No."

So asking simply wasn't going to work. Ky attempted to give another reason. "What if it was my birthday wish to come in?"

There was the thudding sound of footsteps, and Sol poked his head through the door. He gave a glare towards Sin. "I thought I told you to keep him busy."

"Well I'm not going to use force against him! I don't want to hurt him accidentally."

Sol gave a groan and shut the door closed, or at least would have if not for that fact Ky had managed to wedge his foot between the gap in the door to stop it from shutting fully.

"Apologies, this room is closed for inspection by the Kingdom of Illyria. Under the orders of the King, I am legally required to review it."

Sin and Sol exchanged wary glances with one another, but after a few minutes of silently debating the pros and cons through mere eye-contact, Sol backed away in frustration. "Whatever, wasn't my idea anyway."

"What the hell old man?" Sin ran over to the door and forced it closed. "The room isn't in perfect condition! There's no way he can go in."

"If you think I'm somehow going to make this completely clean by myself within the next few minutes so that he can come in, keep dreaming!" Sol yelled back.

"I'd help if I could, but I'm busy holding this closed!"

Whatever happened in there, the two were certainly adamant not to let Ky enter at all costs. Therefore, it was only natural to intrude in spite of this, and Ky took the opportunity to pry open the door whilst Sin was caught off guard and squeeze through the small gap despite the anxious protests.

Whilst the scene wasn't the most disastrous sight he had ever seen, it was as catastrophic as a kitchen could get.

All of the kitchen counters had scorch marks on them and had a thin layer of the same white stuff that was on Sin's clothes, which Ky had now identified as flour. Egg yolk was dripping off said counters and onto the floor, and what was most concerning was that pieces of glass appeared to be stuck within the sticky mixture. The oven was making the faintest beeping sound, its lights continuously flicking on and off. And if he looked across the room, the heat alarm had been smashed and was lying in pieces on the floor. 

Ky stared at it all, bewildered out of his mind how on earth this could have happened with two fairly-competent people within the span of a few hours.

"We're sorry!" Sin broke out into a state of panic. "We just wanted to do something for your birthday. It was too late to go get something good, so we decided to make something ourselves. Please don't be upset..."

He would have responded, something along the lines of _'don't be worried, I still appreciate the thought that went into this'_except for the fact that something on the far corner of one of the counters had caught his eye. Amidst all the damage, there seemed to be an odd cylindrical object, presumably the failed attempts of a cake.

It was hard to call it a cylinder-like thing at all, given that one side of the cake had crumbled away. Ky experimentally picked up a piece between his fingertips, only for it to instantly crack and fall apart.

Ky usually was very good at finding the right words to say. It was a skill he had picked up from the preludes and aftermaths of battles, where he had learnt the importance of choosing the right words to spark emotions within people. With only a few sentences, those words would be enough to provoke hope within people’s hearts and minds, giving them the strength to carry on another day, to survive, and to keep fighting for mankind.

This instance however was not in the midst of a battle and was instead in the royal kitchens, and all Ky could do was stare at Sin, and then stare at Sol, who Ky noted was somehow even scruffier than Sin.

Ky inhaled deeply. "Let's talk about this elsewhere, shall we?"

\--

Sin offered at once to explain what had happened when they had sat down away from the wreckage and Sol had left to get a replacement cake.

The plan had started when the realisation struck Sin that they had never actually given Ky a birthday gift before. They didn't spend the previous year with Ky on his birthday, and so this year was going to be their first ever time. In an effort to correct this and make a good impression, Sin had pulled Sol awake in order to ask whether they could go out quickly to get Ky a gift. In his sleep-deprived state, Sol had managed to explain that they wouldn't be able to find anything good before Ky woke up and wondered where they were, so Sin suggested that they should make something themselves for him that would be memorable.

Despite having zero baking experience, a cake seemed relatively easy to make. Cakes were not considered as tacky as for example, a home-made card could be, and so naturally it seemed like the best option to go for.

They were, of course, wrong.

Things seemed to go smoothly in the beginning; the oven was preheated and the baking parchment was set. The first of their problems arose when the task of cracking eggs had occurred, since Sol hadn't taken into account his strength and ended up not just cracking the eggs but the entire glass bowl too. Sin had laughed, got a second glass bowl, and made a point to be more gentle when breaking the eggs.

The glass broke again.

So they switched to plastic bowls, which wasn't a big deal but did make a big mess, and there now happened to be pieces of glass everywhere. However when the sugar, butter, salt, flour and milk were out of the fridge and chucked into the mixture, the kitchen ended up being a huge mess regardless.

The other issue that had happened, was that they were already rather time-pressured, and the oven was just not heating up fast enough. Naturally when you have a fire-user just standing around, you're going to feel inclined to ask them to help speed up the process by using a bit of their fire abilities.

The oven itself caught on fire, which proceeded to spread throughout the kitchen. In a state of worry, Sin had immediately stabbed the heat alarm with the end of his flagpole so that it wouldn't wake up Ky. The fire had taken a while to put out, because as Sol had explained, just because he was good at creating fire didn't mean he was good at putting it out, and so by the end of it they were left with an insanely messy kitchen and a cake that was one hundred percent not edible.

At that point, plan B was to let Sin distract Ky and Sol would handle everything, since the scent had already spread out and it was much too late to start again, which led them to their situation now.

"It's... it's a lot to process," Ky concluded by the end of it, and Sin looked away, his eyes drifting towards the ground.

"I know you're mad at what happened. It was never a good idea to do it in the first place, and we had no idea what we were doing. I just thought it would be so nice for you to wake up to something sweet, something that would make you less stressed. I'm really sorry we couldn't make this day enjoyable for you," he murmured, and all of a sudden it was as if Sin was just a small child again, innocent and naïve, who only wanted to make his father proud. A father who, back then, had foolishly misjudged Sin solely based on the red glowing mark on his eye and avoided him as much as he could (a trait that the boy couldn't even _control_), instead of seeing past that and focusing on one of the most precious things within his life.

"I'm not mad," Ky said, and he meant it. "It was just quite a shock to me. I hope you can understand that it is not every day you wake up to a scene such as... that."

Sin nodded and fell quiet, a distant look on his soft features. Truly, Sin was only doing this for Ky, and if he was doing all of this whilst Ky was giving him hardly anything in return, Ky supposed might as well show his deep appreciation.

He got up off his seat and wrapped his arms around Sin, pulling him in for a hug. Sin stiffened at the unfamiliar motion, but made no efforts to pull away.

"Thank you for today," Ky said softly. "You tried so hard just to make me happy, when I didn’t even deserve it after all I’ve made you go through. I’m so proud to have a son as kind as you, where you’re so forgiving and accepting of others. Even if I never say it due to me being preoccupied with other issues, please know that I love you very much."

Where Ky had fallen, Sin had not. Ky had grown up stubbornly believing the world was entirely black and white, that the space was too far between good and evil for anyone to ever make the cross. But Sin had seen that, knew that viewpoint was far too simplistic and cruel, and simply strove to go against it, and in a way, it made him stronger than Ky had ever been.

There were a few pauses of silence, and Ky was about to try to rewind the event in his mind to discover if he had said anything wrong, when Ky suddenly felt Sin hold onto him tighter. "I love you too, dad. Don’t forget that."

And after three whole years of a somewhat strained relationship, it appeared as if things were finally coming together.

\--

"So, if I’m not getting blamed, are you going to get mad at the old man instead?" Sin asked after a while.

"Depends," Ky hummed.

"On..?"

"Whether the cake he brings back is nice, of course, then he can be forgiven. Though my standards have seemed to drop considerably low this evening after seeing yours and Sol's earlier."

"Don't remind me about it," Sin gave out a defeated sigh. "It couldn't even hold itself together. I was so excited to ice it too..."

Ky mulled on this thought. All of their cake accidents could have easily been avoided, and Ky was certain that if a third person was there directing them on what to do, things could have gone completely fine.

"Perhaps next time you decide to bake, we could do it as a family,” he offered. “I'm sure if we all work together, we should be able to do it."

"Okay!" Sin beamed, "though it'll take a bit of work persuading the old man."

"Persuading me on what?" Sol huffed, pushing past the door and letting the cake box in his hands drop onto the table with a thump. Sin's hand automatically began reaching out for the box, his cutlery already at the ready.

"Finally! I was beginning to think you made a run for it. We're starving."

"Should've," Sol grinned. "But unfortunately I'm not heartless enough to leave you two fending for yourselves."

"I think we're quite able to survive on our own, compared to you with your incapability to crack eggs, an ingredient commonly used in many dishes."

"So I've been ratted out." Sol gave a look of irritation, and Ky couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't worry, the incident was quite funny to listen about. Besides, other than giving me personal amusement, it made me happy knowing all the effort you put into making this. So thank you for also trying to make me happy today, despite all the problems you faced," Ky smiled, leaning over to plant a kiss on Sol's cheek.

"... damn. If this is what happens we should just mess up the place more often."

"Man, could you guys do that kind of stuff later? Some of us are trying to eat here."

"Our house, our rules,” Sol stated, to which Sin protested against.

"I'm a part of this household!"

"Yeah, but you aren't an adult so you can't control what goes on in here," Sol explained.

"Oh yeah? And who says I'm not an adult?"

"The law.”

"Well," Sin crossed his arms together, "let me just ask the King then. So dad, can we change the law so gears are an exception to that?" Sin's head turned around to Ky. Ky merely shook his head with mild amusement.

"Behave you two," he said, pointing his fork at them. "We'll talk about the law system after I grab a slice of cake.”

Now that Ky could get a proper look at it, the new cake was beautiful. Aside from the obvious slice-shaped hole that was now in it from Sin, the cake had been decorated with little iced magnolia flowers, the words _'happy birthday Ky!'_etched beautifully in blue iced calligraphy writing.

"Ours would have been better," Sin stated, munching on another piece. "Ours was going to have multiple tiers."

"Yeah, and we couldn't even make it past the first one."

“Well dad said we’d try again on his birthday as a whole family.”

Sol glanced over to Ky. “Wait a minute, you knew today ended badly and yet you want to try again?”

“It only ended badly because it was your first time, so I was thinking that perhaps if I helped guide you two next time, it would work out.”

“And how’s that meant to be a surprise..?”

“It’s not,” Ky stated. “But I don’t want it to be anyway. For me, it is more satisfying if I celebrate my birthday doing something with you two, rather than waking up to something you’ve already done without me.”

Sin reached over to nudge Sol. “Come on old man, don’t you wanna be in on this?”

“If I’m not the one cleaning up everything, sure.”

“I wasn’t _intentionally _letting you clean up everything by yourself-!”

“Then it’s settled,” Ky said, helping himself to another mouthful. “We’ll make this our small family tradition then.”

So perhaps the day didn't go as expected, and he certainly didn't get that extra hour of sleep he had been promising himself. Or a normal meal, considering how he skipped breakfast because of the cake incident. And he certainly couldn’t take breaks when he started work today given how much time he had already used up. But if Ky had to admit to himself, then he couldn't deny that spending time with his family without any interference was all he ever really wanted on days like these.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Ky!! This poor boy has been through so so much, please give him a break and lots of cuddles. Hopefully he enjoyed the cake at the very least.
> 
> Surprisingly, I managed to write this all within 7 hours, which is the most I've ever written in one sitting! However it is now 3 AM, so apologies if this fic seems slightly odd. Perhaps I will edit it again in the future.
> 
> I'm hard at work constantly typing up GG fics, so thank you for all the kudos and support! You make me _strive_ (haha) to continue writing these.


End file.
